Gran Canaria's social liberals launch Somos, and former NC assembly members launch UMC.

Amid the upheaval of island nationalism, and while Nueva Canarias is losing ground in its traditional stronghold, Gran Canaria, a new acronym is bursting onto the political scene: "Somos Gran Canaria," the brand that supports the mayor of Mogán, Onalia Bueno, and which has the support of the capital of Las Palmas and southern Gran Canaria. The other, Unidad Municipalista de Canarias (Canary Islands Municipal Unity), is emerging as a meeting point for several mayors dissatisfied with Román Rodríguez's leadership. Somos is disconnected from Madrid and Tenerife.

The situation intensified this week with a joint event in Agüimes, attended by three heavyweights of Gran Canaria municipalism: Antonio Morales, president of the Cabildo (City Council); Teodoro Sosa, mayor of Gáldar; and Óscar Hernández, the host councilor, reports Espiral21. All this occurred on the same days that the departure of the mayor of Santa Lucía, Francisco García, from the NC ranks was confirmed, accentuating the internal rift. At the same time, Somos Gran Canaria took legal form with headquarters in Agüimes, in a move that seems to have more of a message than a coincidence.

The new party was officially registered on April 10, 2025, with Eduardo Álamo Perera as president. Álamo, known for his role as managing director of Mogán Gestión Municipal, SL, the company responsible for tax collection in that municipality, recently gained notoriety after accompanying Onalia Bueno in the presentation of the controversial tourist tax. The connection between the two is not new, but it is now taking political form under a new banner with island aspirations.

Onalia Bueno, who swept the 2023 municipal elections with her Juntos por Mogán party, had expressed her willingness to be part of the reunification of Gran Canarian nationalism under the umbrella of Coalición Canaria, led by President Fernando Clavijo. But her intentions ran into the misgivings of several critical mayors of Nueva Canarias, who demanded more time and fewer conditions for negotiations ahead of 2027, which in practice meant leaving her out of the front line of decision-making within CC.

Bueno's decision to step down from the CC party was announced weeks before the regional party congress, a move that was not well received by its island secretary, Pablo Rodríguez, who is also the regional councilor for Public Works. The mayor of Mogán then opted for her own path: creating a political platform with island ambitions and an inclusive discourse, as she stated, to "convey a message that unites the island around a common project without exclusions."

"Somos Gran Canaria" was born as a new force seeking to unite municipalists critical of the current leadership of Nueva Canarias, at a time when the nationalist space on the island is more fragmented than ever. Two years before the next elections, the political landscape of Gran Canaria is shifting rapidly, and this new brand could become the catalyst for a profound reconfiguration of local power on the island.